[Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Oct. 22, 2022, the night before Bryce Harper hit his fifth home run of the playoffs on Sunday to help send Philadelphia to its first World Series since 2009.]
Philadelphia – Bryce Harper has spent most of his major league career trying to play Bryce Harper, as John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich. As a rare baseball player who Arrived like a celebrity, had to live up to expectations and image. He spent his first six years on the clock toward free agency and benchmarked against Mike Trout. And when he signed with Phyllisa team with six straight losing seasons, had to be big enough to sell tickets and pull the franchise back into respect.
Something wonderful has happened in the past two weeks. Not only does Harper cut .410/ .439/ .872 in postseason. And Harper plays without burdens. The Phillies became such a collective force of willpower that Harper no longer had to play the part in his own film.
Harper said after NLCS Game 4, that included Philadelphia’s rumbling meltdown Padres, 10-6, even after San Diego took the lead 4-0, 6-4. “It’s a win for the team, like I used to play for Team USA [at 17]. The only thing that mattered was winning the name up front. It wasn’t about me. It was about getting the team together to achieve the same goal: to win.
“When you play here in this environment, where the fans are great, it’s more about the collective will. About 45,000 fans and 26 players coming together for a common purpose. Honestly, that’s all I feel right now. I don’t think about anything else.”
Harper went 2-4 in doubles in the Phillies 10-6 win over Padres in the NLCS 4 game.
Bill Streicher / USA TODAY Sports
Phillies classmate Kyle Schwarber, a bona fide high school football captain who never aged, has been riding the gun with Harper on this trip. It was Schwarber and his goofy honesty that sold Harper on what it means to be the best possible teammate.
“He doesn’t think of himself,” Philadelphia bats coach Kevin Long said. “And it’s very rare that he doesn’t think of himself. It’s very rare, at least in the time I was with him.
“The reason he brought him back to how he was when he was younger is because he was already part of a team at the time. That’s how he feels now. It took so long. It was hard to get out of that role and get him into this team situation.”
Each Harper’s Pat is a marvel of technical brilliance and focus.
“Different approaches, different settings, different pitches, he has every shot in the bag,” says Phillies First Baseman Rhys Hoskins.
Here are the past six stroke pitches: sinker (95 mph), sinker (91), cut-off (90), change (81), bend (72), and four-stitch (93). Badris broke twice in the fourth game. In the first inning, he knocked San Diego’s heartbroken starter Mike Clevenger out of the game with a double-ring to pull Philadelphia within 4-3. In the fifth inning, he cut the tie 6-6 with two-pieces from Shun Manya, left-handed shooters. He talked a long time ago to Harper before bat time about using the two-stroke approach against the left flank — spreading the legs and simplifying the swing — and Harper did just that for the hit.
“His focus is on laser focus at the moment,” Long says. “He’s accurate in every way. His routine today, I knew before the game he was going to be amazing. He didn’t miss hitting the ball. Not one. You know with Bryce. The day before, he was little. He went 1 for 4. Today, he was accurate.”
Each time when Harper reached second, he would grab his chest away and pull his hands away from him, displaying “Phillies” across him the way Superman does his “S” badge.
I got it from [Edmundo] Sosa. “I thought it was fine. It’s more like being a kid again, except now instead of ‘USA’ you say ‘Phelise.'”
When Harper was a free agent, he told his agent, Scott Borras, to forget the usual bells and whistles for decades. No withdrawal. Tired of six years of free agency countdown, Harper wanted a long-term home, if there was nothing but to play without worry and gossip about where he was going next, he found a boring weight. He also wanted a long-term home to start a family. He and his wife, Kayla, have a son, Creo, 3, and a daughter, Brooklyn, 2. Boras made a 13-year deal worth $330 million.
For better or worse, he was married to Philadelphia. In his first two years he scored 903 OPS and missed just seven games. In his third year he won his second MVP award. But in those three years, the team did not do better than two games that exceeded 0.500.
“He would have won Player of the Year this year as well,” Long says.
Harper was chopping .318/.385/.599 when he hit a 97mph Blake Snell’s slick hit, He broke his left thumb. Missed 52 games. When he returned in late August, his strength was gone. Cut .227/ .325/ .352.
“When he came back, he needed every bit of that time,” Long says. “Maybe he needed the post-season more than anything.”
Harper is one win away from reaching the world championships for the first time in his career.
Matt Slocum / AFP
Harper was unhurt in his first playoff, but has since hit nine straight with an additional 10 key strokes. Long says Harper has taken it to the “next level” with focus and performance. How does that look?
“It’s just…there isn’t…I mean, he’s going to do something special,” Long says. “That’s all I can tell you. I know his swing is going to be right and it’s going to be compact and there’s probably some damage involved. He doesn’t miss when he does this. He uses all the pitch, hitting any throw they throw.”
When I asked Harper to explain this hitting zone, he said, “I honestly don’t think of anything else but what I have to do in that moment to win. Get my feet in time and go. I haven’t held back. He hasn’t analyzed anything. It’s literally” Get in the box and get to work.’ It really is that simple. Which is why it was so much fun. That was everything I could have hoped for. Even better because this is such a great group of guys that I’m lucky enough to play with.”
Harper became 30 a week ago. He has already won two MVPs, was selected to seven All-Star teams and is one of only three players with 250 runs, 800 walks and 100 base steals before turning 30. The only other players with strength, patience and speed at elite levels such as this young age are Mickey Mantle and Trout. He’s built an elite resume as a brilliant pure hitter, something that could get lost in his fame.
Postseason highlighted it. But now he shares it with Schwarber, who bumps into the house in the upper floors and bushes, and Rhys Hoskins and Jean Segura, who can Alternating between sparkling ball players and clutch hitters in a matter of minutesand JT Realmuto, the indefatigable catcher, and Dave Dombrowski and Rob Thompsonscreenwriter and director of this entertaining story in Philadelphia.
The Phillies are 4-0 at home in the post-season and 26-9 since July 27. Going to a Phillies game in Citizen Bank Park is like going to the best rock concert ever. It’s going to be rowdy, and you know you’re going to have a good time. The perceived anxiety, even contempt, that has permeated this franchise for more than a decade has been obliterated by the euphoria that this fate team has. Starting with the Wild Card series, win Saint Louis, the Phillies seem to have been pushed forward, like a boulder spinning on a string and suddenly, with all the centrifugal force exploding, letting it go. Harper rides this energy like no one else.
“What does this postseason show you?” I ask Long.
“He’s the best player in the game,” Long says. “That’s why he won my two MVP awards. There isn’t a bat I didn’t really like. He has this key, and this key is on now. He’s a bad guy to get up on the plate now. He really is.”
On Saturday night, Harper went to bed knowing that his win in his next game, game five today, would lead him to his first world championship of his career, and a first for the Phillies in 13 years. Just four years into his 13-year contract, Harper was one win away from bringing his banner back to Philadelphia.
“How will you sleep?” I asked him.
“Good. It’s really good.” “I will put Krew to bed and sleep well by myself. I am in a good place now and I just want to stay there.”
More MLB coverage:
• Goose Padres nearly matured as chaos strikes NLCS
• Astros out of the Yankees League
• Jean Segura’s Wild Ride ride takes Phyllis closer to the world championship
• Phillies manager Rob Thompson has one heck of post-season
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